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In this era of digitalization, there’s a thin line between dependence and addiction to digital devices. And digital addiction is real and growing fast. Developing a compulsive need to use your digital devices, even if it interferes with your life and stops you from doing things is the hallmark of addiction. Digital addiction can be broadly grouped as phone addiction, <keyword id="21708" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Internet-Addiction">Internet addiction</keyword> and social media addiction. Smartphone dependence and addiction is probably the most common and widespread form of digital addiction. It is not uncommon to see just about every child who can hold a phone in their hands glued to their mobile screen. Studies have shown that children as young as three years old are being given their own tablet device and even 10-year-olds their own smartphones. Social media addiction is quite easy to define. If you spend far too much time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to document every aspect of your life on any or all of the platforms, you could be a social media addict. Internet addiction is where some may find it difficult to differentiate between the virtual world and reality. Sufferers tend to spend excessive amounts of time online, causing a higher risk of overspending by getting involved in online gambling and gaming. The hazard The explosion of technology in recent years has impacted both adults and children alike. However, it may be more hazardous for children since they are exposed to these devices at a tender age. Once they figure out that there is an entire world accessible to them through that little device, it becomes their most treasured possession. All forms of digital addiction eventually lead to excessive screen time. Digital addiction not only affects our behaviour and functioning, but it also affects us structurally. Parts of the brain begin to shrink (atrophy) because children are not receiving the human interactions that develop those areas. Most of the damage occurs in the brain’s frontal lobe that controls important functions such as planning, organising, decision-making and prioritising. Excessive screen time leads to eye related problems like eye strain, dry eyes, computer vision syndrome as well. It could lead to rapid progression of refractive errors especially myopia in children. Even in the older age group, chances of retinal and macular degeneration due to the blue light emission is seen more in people who are constantly on their devices. To make things worse, most enterprises, schools and even homes now have WI-FI. As technology continues to tighten its grip on our lives, we are losing human connection - our voices, touch, and facial expressions and we are actually drifting away. These devices lead us into a vicious cycle -- It may not be long from now that digital addiction will be medically recognised as a disease, just like the ‘gaming disorder’- the inability to stop gaming, which is now included in the international classification of diseases (ICD) by the WHO. Possible solution The solution to this problem can be a challenge. These devices have proved their worth and importance in our day to day lives. But wireless technology – like any other technology – must be used judiciously and with caution. We need to make a conscious effort to reduce our addiction to our ‘smart’ devices. This is applicable to both adults and children. Children should be encouraged to play real outdoor games rather than playing simulated ones on phones and tablets. Reading e-books, articles and newspapers from these devices is another commonly encountered phenomenon which can be reduced by simple measures. Online learning apps too could be addictive and have detrimental effects in the ways mentioned above. Moreover, even schools are promoting and encouraging the use of tablets and IPADs as a medium of education. Children should be encouraged to read from books. The time spent on computers and TVs too should be monitored and regulated. The WI- FI routers can be turned off for at least a few hours in the day and at night. Families should make an effort to sit together without our ‘smart’ companions and indulge in real communication. Routine but effective restrains like no cell phones, tablets on dining tables, no use of gadgets in dark before sleeping etc. should be practiced. We need to devote time to ourselves, nourish our brains and engage in exercise as an antidote to digital addiction. Reconnecting with nature, taking time to look at our surroundings, meeting real people, playing real games—instead of burying our heads in our gadgets—is a step in the right direction. Let these devices ease your life but do not let them become your life. We need to understand that we are smarter than our smart phones and watches. And we can survive even without them. (Dr Uppal Gandhi is a Pediatric Ophthalmologist at L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad)

An eye doctor breaks down how digital addiction can hurt you

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Many residents in Fairfield, <keyword id="3046" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iowa">Iowa</keyword>, home to thousands of disciples of a deceased Indian guru, claim that radiation emitted by <keyword id="6608045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cell-phones">cell phones</keyword> and other devices is harmful to human health. </li><li>Those beliefs created a problem for a local utility that began deploying radiation-emitting <keyword id="705422" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="smart-meters">smart meters</keyword> in 2017.</li><li>Through administrative proceedings, Fairfield residents fought back against the utility's smart meter program — and, for the most part, won. </li><li>At its core, the fight wasn't about the health effects of smart meters. It was about the freedom to exercise a set of beliefs, as unusual as they may be.</li></ul>FAIRFIELD, IOWA — I was standing outside my childhood home on an unseasonably warm spring day when I saw my neighbor approaching from across the street. It was May, and I had been staying with my parents months after escaping New York City. In their home, more than 80 miles away from the nearest airport, the threat of a pandemic felt distant. But to our neighbor, Lewis Weiss, the real danger was lurking inside our house, radiating through every room — our wireless internet, or wifi. "It's poison," Weiss told my parents, who were listening through the kitchen window. Standing in our front yard, Weiss said he was picking up our wifi signal in his house and it was harmful. He offered us a few suggestions: switch to ethernet, sheath our router with a product called SignalTamer, or turn our wifi off at night."Frankly, this is ridiculous," I said from the porch. "We're not doing that." But such requests are actually not seen as ridiculous in Fairfield. In fact, Weiss is among at least 1,000 or so people in this town of roughly 10,000 who believe the radiofrequency (RF) radiation emitted by routers and all kinds of other devices is harmful to human health. And those beliefs don't just irritate wifi-addicted New Yorkers. They've rubbed up against an adversary of enormous scale: A $12 billion utility that began deploying smart meters in 2017 that communicate using <keyword id="58295" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Radio-waves">radio waves</keyword>.<a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/power-line">Click here to subscribe to Power Line</a>, Business Insider's weekly <keyword id="6357014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="energy">energy</keyword> newsletter.Over the last two years, Fairfield residents fought the utility for the right to keep their simple analog meters, in lieu of the smart ones. And for the most part, they won, forcing the utility to change its plans.For the power company, smart meters are the future, offering big savings and granular info about energy use. For some residents of my hometown, they pose an unacceptable health risk.But the fight against them was about something much bigger: protecting a way of life and the freedom to exercise a set of beliefs that big corporations and advancing technologies put at risk.<h2>A meditation mecca flanked by cornfields</h2>For most of the 20th century, Fairfield was like any other Iowa town, with a couple of distinctions. It was the first site of the famous <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Fairfield-Iowa">Iowa state fair</a> and home to a small liberal arts school, Parsons College. <div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120612" hostid="261"></div>Then in the early 1970s, Fairfield went through a seismic shift. Parsons closed and the followers of a guru from India, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, bought the campus and moved in. My parents were among them, and in the following years, they helped establish a university in Parsons' footprint called Maharishi International University.Most notably, Maharishi's disciples practice a technique called Transcendental Meditation. It was first popularized by the Beatles in the 1960s and later by celebrities like Oprah and David Lynch. (Fun fact: I meditated with the comedian and actor Russell Brand once in high school.) It's hard to say when meditators first developed an aversion to RF, a type of electromagnetic radiation, but it fits neatly among some of the other beliefs that meditators here share. Growing up, I'd often hear of the "Maharishi Effect," for example. It goes something like this: If a large group of people is meditating together, they'll radiate waves of bliss that would reduce crime and create peace — so for many, there's clearly power in invisible waves. Another idea popular among meditators is that achieving higher states of consciousness is easier with a pure body. And so there's a tendency to repel anything seen as a pollutant, whether it's genetically modified food or electromagnetic radiation.Maharishi himself, who passed away in 2008, suggested that radiofrequency is harmful. In a book published in 1996, he said that electromagnetic fields in the environment "can disturb the harmony between the individual and the Cosmic Pulse."<div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="3474" width="5211" msid="76120618" hostid="261"></div>He "strongly urged" that there be no wifi at facilities associated with the meditation community and that people avoid carrying cell phones, according to Jon Lipman, an architect in town.Lipman specializes in an ancient form of architecture closely tied to Maharishi's teaching, known as Maharishi Vastu. Vastu homes are designed to "provide cosmic harmony and support to the individual," according to Maharishi. They share common properties, such as east-facing orientations, plenty of ethernet ports, and rooftop structures that look like ornate Hershey's Kisses, which Lipman says connect the inside of the house to the cosmos. "This is a system that exists in order to nourish the occupants of buildings," said Lipman, who lives off the grid in a house of his own design powered by solar panels. "From the beginning of the revival of this ancient system, about 30 years ago, there has been an awareness of health hazards that can occur from exposure to electromagnetic radiation."<h2>Alliant finds pushback in Fairfield</h2>For many of its residents, Fairfield is a refuge in a world being poisoned by modern technologies. Here, people can live in neighborhoods where non-GMO food is the norm, wifi is turned off at night, and cell phones are used sparingly and away from the ear. Energy utilities put that refuge at risk. For years they've been rolling out smart meters that communicate with power companies using RF. Most towns don't oppose them. Most people, for that matter, hardly think about their electricity or where it comes from.<div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120621" hostid="261"></div>But Fairfield is nothing like other towns. In 2018, after its residents caught wind of the local utility's plan to replace about 500,000 electric meters across the state with smart meters, they hatched a plan of their own. Their main concern was a proposal that the utility submitted to the state regulator that spring, which would have made it difficult to opt out of smart electric meters. The utility, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy, would charge $15 a month for electric meter opt-out fees, according to its proposed tariffs. Plus, customers wouldn't be able to retain their old, non-emitting analog meters — the ones with dials on the front, like elaborate watches. Instead, customers choosing to opt out would receive non-emitting digital electric meters.To be clear, Alliant and other utilities don't want people opting out of their smart meter programs. For one, smart meters save utilities a ton of cash, since they get rid of the need for manual readings. Randy Bauer, Alliant's director of operational resources who oversaw the smart meter rollout, told me they will save the company more than $250 million over 15 years. Another big benefit is that they collect more granular data on energy usage, which Bauer says helps Alliant better manage its systems — for instance, by more accurately tracking peak energy demand. Bauer also points out that smart meters benefit customers. They reduce billing errors and allow for remote service activation and deactivation. They also automatically alert the utility if a customer's power goes out. But to many residents in Fairfield, those benefits come at an unacceptable risk. <div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity Jay Marcus" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120623" hostid="261"></div><h2>'It was like David against Goliath'</h2>In the summer after Alliant proposed its opt-out terms, two Fairfield residents — including Lipman — launched their attack. They submitted petitions to the state regulator, the Iowa Utilities Board, to intervene in the process whereby the board reviews Alliant's proposal. "We opposed the whole smart meter program," said Jay Marcus, an attorney in Fairfield who represented Lipman. "We think it's dangerous, and there should be a moratorium." The board granted their petition and in late 2018 held a hearing. In a fluorescent-lit room in the state capital, Des Moines, Alliant and the intervenors presented witnesses for cross-examination. "It was like David against Goliath," said Marcus, through a New York accent worn away by years of living in Iowa. The intervenors opposed several aspects of Alliant's smart meter program including the cost and criteria to opt out, which they said were unduly burdensome.They also argued that smart meters would lower the value of Vastu homes in town, often purchased by people who try to avoid RF, and make the university less appealing to students and faculty.<div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="3596" width="5395" msid="76120628" hostid="261"></div>"The adverse effect is not entirely predictable but, in all candor, could be extremely harmful to our community," Bill Goldstein, the general counsel of Maharishi International University, said in a letter to the board.Above and beyond business considerations, the intervenors argued that smart meters and even digital non-emitting meters are harmful to human health — especially for people who are "electro-hypersensitive." Thus, they believe it's reasonable that anyone who wants to opt out should be able to do so conveniently. <h2>Experts say there's little evidence that cell phones and smart meters are harmful </h2>When talking with any smart meter opponent, they're likely to mention studies published in 2018 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services.The NTP researchers exposed rats and mice to RF radiation, similar to older generation cell phones, all over their bodies at high levels and for long durations. The lowest exposure levels in the studies were equal to the maximum "local tissue exposure" allowed by current cell phone regulations. The research took 10 years and the results were revealing. The scientists <a href="https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/topics/cellphones/index.html">found</a> "clear evidence" of malignant tumors in the hearts of male rats, in addition to "some evidence" of tumors in their brains and adrenal glands. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/em.22343">follow-up study</a>, the researchers also found some evidence that RF was linked to DNA damage in some mice and rats.People who denounce RF say that these results are strong proof that cell phones and smart meters cause harm. But even the researchers themselves advise against applying these results directly to humans. Some of the tumors they found have been seen in humans, the researchers write, "so they may have relevance." However, the rodents were exposed to much higher amounts of radiation than is typical for cell phone users. And even so, the proportion of rats that developed cancerous tumors was low. I asked an official at the US Food and Drug Administration about this. Judging by his tone, he had experience addressing such questions."The scientific consensus remains that the amount of radiofrequency radiation that's emitted by cell phone handsets and smart meters does not cause any human health problems whatsoever," the official said. "The <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> is unequivocal. Given that the primary function of us as an agency is to protect public health, if we had any concern or doubts or suspicions we would have acted by now." As for the NTP studies, he says their conclusions are often taken out of context."As you can imagine, people will cherry-pick individual sentences," he said. But to many smart meter opponents, claims from officials like this are just a sign that government agencies are stacked with ex-industry executives. "I think it's industry in their pockets," said David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany who's outspoken about the negative effects of RF radiation. "I don't think there's any question about that." <div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120630" hostid="261"></div><h2>A victory for the smart-meter opposition</h2>After the hearing in late 2018, both sides submitted pages and pages of briefs, summarizing their positions and addressing claims from the opposition. Then it was up to the board to decide how to proceed: Allow Alliant to limit opt-out options for its customers, or force them to loosen their requirements. The board issued a decision in February 2019. And for the most part, Fairfield's intervenors won.In the 50-page ruling, the board rejected Alliant's proposed tariffs, it said Alliant's customers would be able to opt out of smart meters on an ongoing, permanent basis, and that they would be able to hold on to their analog meters until they failed. What's more, the board ruled that Alliant would have to provide another alternative — a low-transmission smart meter that emits a signal once a month. "It was almost Solomonic in its findings," Lipman said of the board and its verdict. "I wanted people to be able to have some agency towards protecting themselves. This gives us quite a bit of ability to make choices." At first, the victory caught me by surprise. Many of the intervenors' claims were based on the supposed negative health effects of RF radiation, which don't really align with mainstream science.But as I thumbed through the ruling — from within my parents' Vastu home, no less — I realized it wasn't about science, and the board said as much: "The board has decided to allow residential customers the opportunity to opt out of having an AMI meter regardless of their reason for doing so."<div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120633" hostid="261"></div>Instead, it came down to meeting the needs of a large number of customers who were unhappy with the service Alliant was providing. A monthly fee of $15 is unreasonable (in a later proceeding the board settled on about $4 a month). And swapping out an analog meter for a non-emitting digital one won't provide much benefit to the customer. "Ideally, we wanted to sunset non-AMI meters, but I also understand the board's position," said Bauer of Alliant, seemingly unphased. "I don't think it gave any more or less legitimacy to the anti-smart-meter movement." But the fight isn't quite over, said Marcus, who has, himself, opted out of getting an AMI meter.According to the ruling, people who own solar panels are still required to use smart meters. They help measure the energy that solar users put back on the grid, which can result in a credit on their utility bills. With no choice but to use smart meters, some of the 70 or so solar users in town have shut off their arrays."We are turning it off because we just don't want the smart meter on it," said one solar owner in Fairfield, who spent about $100,000 on several arrays, not including a tax credit. "I would have never put an investment in if I had known that it would require smart meters and what smart meters do." The resident requested anonymity for reasons of privacy. Marcus said he's now waiting for the appropriate time to ask the utility board to give solar owners the option to use reduced-transmission smart meters. Otherwise, he said, the many solar users in Fairfield "either have to throw away their investment or be stuck with a smart meter."<div type="image" title="Fairfield Iowa Electricity" height="1667" width="2500" msid="76120636" hostid="261"></div><h2>Why smart meters draw so much attention</h2>As I learned while reporting this story, smart meters ignite a passion among RF opponents that doesn't emerge with such intensity in discussions of cell phones. What is it about these dull-looking gadgets? My sense is that it's partly an issue of personal freedom. Based on my conversations, people don't want someone else determining what they can and can't have next to their homes. Certainly, for Weiss and our wifi, that was the case. "It's all about property rights," said Weiss, who runs a company called Radiation Analysis and Mitigation, when we spoke last week. "Wifi extends to other people's property lines, so that's where the issue comes into play." Like the battle against GMOs, which is never short a soldier in Fairfield, there's also a sense of distrust for big corporations. Monsanto isn't selling smart meters, but there is a big company on the other end that stands to gain. This made me think back to something the FDA official said: Sunlight, another form of radiation and the very energy source that many people here are trying to harvest, is far more dangerous than radiation from smart meters. But there's another important difference — no company is in charge of the sun. Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-small-towns-battle-against-smart-meters-and-a-utility-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

Inside the fight between my small Iowa hometown and a $12 billion utility over smart meters and the radiation that some residents call 'poison'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding a model wing for Facebook's internet-beaming mark Zuckerberg Aquila drone. In a way, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-officially-hits-2-billion-users-2017-6">getting to 2 billion users</a> was easy for Facebook.The social network's growth has been on a steady and unstoppable climb for the past decade. Facebook's strength has always been its ubiquity - everyone uses it because everyone uses it.But now that <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/FB-Quote?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">Facebook</a> is used by roughly two-thirds of the world's population with internet access, its days of easy growth are nearing an end.And the powerful financial engine that has propelled its <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/facebook-stock-price-all-time-high-2017-5-1001966061">stock to all-time highs</a> could start to sputter.It won't happen overnight.If the roughly 1.5 billion people who already have internet access but don't use Facebook can be brought onboard, Facebook will be well on its way to the 4 billion user mark. But a good chunk of those users are in China, where Facebook is currently blocked. That means Facebook will have to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-facebooks-zuckerberg-meets-propaganda-czar-in-china-charm-drive-2016-3">display some astute diplomacy</a>, or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-censorship-tool-china-report-2016-11">compromise some of its values</a> about free speech and open information, to make it happen.After that, Facebook will have to convert poorer, non-internet-connected people into users that it can monetize through advertising.That's problematic for a couple of reasons.To put the challenge into perspective, here's the revenue Facebook made per user geography last quarter:FacebookNotice how the lion's share of revenue comes from North America, Europe, and Asia - the regions of the world with the highest concentration of internet-connected people.These internet addicts (American consumers spend an average of 5 hours a day on their mobile devices, <a href="http://flurrymobile.tumblr.com/post/157921590345/us-consumers-time-spent-on-mobile-crosses-5">according to one report</a>) are the ideal audience for the companies that advertise on Facebook. A Facebook user in North America or in Europe has a decent amount of disposable income to spend on consumer goods compared to someone in the developing world.<h2>Building roads and highways</h2>But the next group of prospective Facebook users won't be nearly as lucrative to the company. And Facebook will have to spend more money to reach them.Facebook knows that it will eventually hit the limit of people in the world with internet access. That's why it's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-aquila-drone-test-flight-2016-7">building drones to beam internet</a> access down to Sub-Saharan Africa, subsidizing WiFi stations in India, and paying telecoms to offer Facebook in rural areas.These kinds of things are not cheap. Facebook's capital expenditures increased to $4.5 billion in 2016, compared to $1.83 billion two years earlier. Facebook doesn't disclose its cost to acquire a new user. But it's probably not a stretch to assume that whatever the number is, it will increase as the company is forced to invest more on building the infrastructure itself to acquire the users.In other words, Facebook's future involves spending more money to amass less valuable users.Visit <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/">Markets Insider</a> for constantly updated market quotes for individual stocks, ETFs, indices, commodities and currencies traded around the world. <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/">Go Now!</a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-engineering-director-reveals-kinds-people-want-hire-engineer-jeff-reynar-hr-jobs-careers-resume-interview-2017-6">Facebook: These are the kinds of people we want to hire</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Facebook easily coasted to 2 billion users, but the joy ride may be coming to an end

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">ShutterstockThe Dubai Mall as seen from the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, which is part of the complex.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/dubai">Dubai</a> has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dubai-mall-worlds-second-largest-mall-2018-11">65 malls</a> in a city of just over 3 million people, with 10 more under construction, including Dubai Square, a megamall set to be the biggest in the world when it is finished.</li><li>Despite the number of shopping destinations, Dubai residents I spoke to explained that the number of malls is not because the population is so shopping-obsessed, but because the city is unbearably hot for much of the year.</li><li>Because malls are large, open, climate-controlled spaces, they act as de-facto community centers and public squares where Dubai residents can gather, enjoy entertainment, or experience social events.</li></ul>If you are the type of person who likes to explore a country's "authentic" culture, traveling to Dubai can be a bit dizzying.Everywhere you turn, there is another mall or shopping center. There's the Mall of the Emirates, with its icy indoor ski slopes, the faux-Venetian Mercato Mall, and the ornate Ibn Mattuta Mall, modeled after the travels of the famous Moroccan Berber explorer, to name a few.In total, Dubai has about 65 malls in a city of just over 3 million people, with 10 more on the way. One of those currently being built is Dubai Square, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/dubai-square-mall-dubai-creek/index.html">set to become the world's largest mall</a> when it's completed.Which all begs the question: why?As if reading my mind as we walked through Deira, the oldest neighborhood in Dubai, Nada Badran, a Jordanian who has lived in Dubai for most of her life, offered an answer."Everyone thinks we're such shopping addicts. But really there are so many malls because we need spaces that are comfortable to be inside. It's so hot in the summers," Badran, who hosts Wander With Nada on CNN Arabic, told Business Insider.Related: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dubai-mall-worlds-second-largest-mall-2018-11">Dubai has a $20 billion megacomplex with the world's 2nd-largest mall, the world's tallest building, an aquarium, and 1,200 stores. I can't imagine why any tourist would want to visit.</a>During Dubai's long summer stretching from mid-April through October, temperatures make it unbearable to be outside for more than a few minutes. Temperatures <a href="https://services.dubaiairports.ae/dubaimet/MET/Climate.aspx">are regularly around 105 degrees Fahrenheit</a> (41 degrees Celsius) and have gone as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius), with plenty of humidity. Malls offer an escape. "The malls in Dubai play a role more than just a shopping center. The malls are like community centers where entertainment and social events happen," Ali Shamsi, a financial trader an entrepreneur based in Dubai, wrote <a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Dubai-full-of-malls">on Quora</a> in March. "Besides, it's too hot to do activities outdoors in summer."While most of Dubai's malls have shops that would be familiar to any American or European traveler - everything from Bloomingdales to Adidas to Gucci - their orientation is more akin to miniature indoor cities than outright shopping centers."[T]he mall is a social space, not just a shopping space," Justin Thomas, an associate professor of psychology at Zayed University wrote for <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uae/the-national-news/20140414/282230893675225">The National</a> in 2014. "The mall is where three generations of the same family take an evening stroll; the mall is where the Abu Dhabi Readers (a book club) meet to discuss works of literature."The most iconic of Dubai's malls is the simply named <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dubai-mall-worlds-second-largest-mall-2018-11">Dubai Mall</a>, a St. Peter's Basilica of capitalism: 1,200 stores, hundreds of restaurants, a movie theater, a luxury hotel, an Olympic-size ice-skating rink, a virtual-reality theme park, and an aquarium all stuffed into one <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/world/meast/an-exclusive-peek-inside-largest-mall/index.html">$20 billion</a> megacomplex ranked as the second-largest in the world. The mall is so big it has its own neighborhoods like Fashion Avenue, designed to mimic Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, and "The Village," an open-air "street" with chic clothing boutiques, cafes, and restaurants.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Dubai HoldingsA rendering of "The Boulevard" at Dubai Square, currently under construction.</div></div></div>The currently under-construction Dubai Square is <a href="https://www.arabianbusiness.com/retail/401410-revealed-dubai-square-project-set-to-dwarf-dubai-mall">set to construct the Middle East's largest Chinatown</a>, a four-lane "boulevard" that mimics a wide city street, a piazza, and an entertainment center for concerts and theater shows.Related: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/emirates-airline-airbus-a380-economy-class-review-new-york-dubai-2018-11">I flew 13 hours nonstop on the world's biggest passenger plane, the $446 million Airbus superjumbo jet, and it's about as good as economy can get</a>The heat is not the only story behind Dubai's malls. The city <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/dubai-plans-to-be-world-s-most-popular-tourist-destination-by-2025-1.776970">aims to be the most popular tourist destination</a> in the world by 2025, as it seeks to develop an economy not reliant on oil. It is currently the fourth most-visited city in the world, with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-visited-cities-in-the-world-2018-9">a projected 16.7 million visitors</a> this year, <a href="https://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/big-cities-big-business-bangkok-london-and-paris-lead-the-way-in-mastercards-2018-global-destination-cities-index/">according to Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index</a>. Of the 15.8 million people who visited Dubai last year, 2.1 million came from India. And Dubai's fastest-growing tourist market is China, with 764,000 visitors last year. The number of Chinese visitors <a href="https://www.arabianbusiness.com/travel-hospitality/401047-chinese-tourists-to-dubai-more-than-double-since-2014">could top 1 million this year</a>. Russian tourists is another growth market for the country.What all those cultures have in common - in addition to many Middle Eastern cultures - is that shopping is viewed as a leisure activity. For many without easy access to luxury goods, traveling halfway across the world to visit a mall or luxury stores is the attraction. Dubai is positioned to capitalize on that.Emaar Malls, The Dubai Mall's developer, said recently that the property had seen <a href="http://www.tellerreport.com/life/--dubai-mall-welcomes-more-than-80-million-visitors-annually-.SJ1w0k637.html">over 80 million visitors annually for the past four years</a>, making it the most-visited mall in the world. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-palm-tree-charge-phone-free-wi-fi-public-dubai-2017-10">These smart palm trees in Dubai can charge your phone and provide free Wi-Fi</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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